I take your response to mean that you are your own authority. You pick and choose whatever pleases your sensibilities. No need for further discussion.

Thank you. I do not claim to have all the answers. However, Paul thought that the world was going to end shortly. He supported slavery or at least tolerated it. I would say that he was wrong on these points. Common sense tells us so. And his views about women were wrong because they were based on false and malicious ideas about female inferiority. We might excuse Paul because of his ignorance, but there is no excuse for an educated man today saying the same thing.

We do not take our opinions from ancient authorities. We find the ancient authorities who will support our opinions. Always that has been so–with the exception, in my experience, of the sayings and teachings of Jesus, which have an authoritative quality which speaks directly to the soul and overrules anything we may have thought before.

I forgot my most important question. What criteria do you use to determine if a teaching of St. Paul is correct or incorrect?

Against my better judgement, I’ll continue our discussion. If you do not accept the instruction of St. Paul who God commissioned to instruct the Gentiles, then it senseless for me to try to tell you anything. I’m curious, though. What creed is it that you recite without misgivings? The one with or without the filioque? Why do you recite that particular creed and not the other? Why do you consider yourself to be a member, or even want to be a member, of a church with which you disagree? Why not just be an unaffiliated Christian? Or start your own church?

I don’t claim to have a private line to the Almighty. However I believe, as a matter of faith, in the benevolence of the Creator. It is in the light of benevolence, to the extent that I am given the light, that I consider the questions we have been discussing.

In the light of benevolence, as I understand it, I have no hesitation or doubt in affirming my belief in fair opportunity for women to practice any lawful profession and rise to any position of authority that her talent,character, and motivation may carry her. That is justice. That is decency.

I think St Paul was wrong about women, and the Church is wrong about women priests. However I can recite the creed without misgivings and I will remain in the Church until I am sacked.

I’m aware of the passage, but what I wrote is that we would have to be obliged to vote under pain of sin–a higher standard than “morally obligatory.”

I will not deny that some ancient minds could be just as conceited as our own. I was not referring to all ancient minds. I was referring to the minds of those who were chosen and taught by Christ, as well as those taught by the Apostles and their followers who had to refute the wrong ideas of their time. (As there is nothing new under the sun, those wrong ideas keep coming back.)

You say that you think this and surmise that. I’m suggesting that is where you make your mistake. I referred you to a book that cites authority for what I believe. Apparently your authority is your own “common sense” and your idea of “common decency.” Do you have any other authority that I might value or find persuasive?

I would never tell any bright young girl that she cannot do anything. It is not a question of “can”; it’s a question of “ought.” If I knew the young girl well enough, like my own daughters or nieces, I would recommend a different direction for her life.

Perhaps you can tell the rest of us how you know what is in the mind of God. Are you unaware that the Son of God was male, that He referred to His Father as father, not mother, and that He chose only males to be Apostles? (Perhaps there is some significance to Christ’s example.) Do you not agree that Christ established His Church and we are to be subject to its teachings? If so, please read the book. It explains some of those teachings in a clear, concise manner. If not, try reading E.F. Schumacher’s, A Guide for the Perplexed. It may get you thinking in a more productive manner.

Thank you. I will look out for the book you recommend. Any book with “Scandal” in the title is bound to arouse my curiosity.

However ancient minds could be just as conceited as our own. Conceited and worse. It was, I think, the early Church that invented the lie that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute.Why was that? The modern fiction that Jesus married Mary is, I would surmise, a feminist response to an ancient slander.

Would you really say to a bright young girl eager to face the challenges of life, “You can never be president because you are a woman. You can never run a large business because you are a woman. You can never run a a government department because you are a woman. You can never hold an academic Chair because you are a woman.”

An outlook so malign , so mean spirited and frankly ridiculous, cannot possibly reflect the mind of the divine Creator.

You can find ancient supporters for any point of view.In the end you have to rely on your own common sense and common decency because they are all that you have got.

Best wishes.